Home Is Where The Heart Is?
by 8XxheelsOVERheadxX8
Summary: Danny makes a trip home for the holidays...A mysterious girl lives next door...his whole world is turned around...R&R...Merci
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The same as everyone, I don't own McFly, but I own the idea of the story.

REVIEW (no reviews, no updates)

_The story starts a little slow, but it'll keep getting better I promise._

Bursting through the door, Danny dropped his guitar case and duffel bag. "Home," he muttered under his breath. Minutes later his mother appeared. Tangling him in a long awaited hug, she welcomed him home. It had been nearly 2 full years since he had been awarded a break long enough to stay home for the holidays. The boys of McFly had had their share fair of fun for the holidays, but there was nothing like his mother's home cooking and his sisters long drawn out stories of nothing.

"Well don't just stand there Dan, your old room was just the way you left it, go put your stuff away," his mother ushered him into his house as if he had never left. He dragged his stuff along the rough carpet. Reaching the wooden door, he turned the gold knob carefully as if he was going to be surprised with what he found behind it. But alas, it was exactly the same the walls a bright white, posters hung every which way, and his simple blue comforter atop his bed. He dropped his luggage and sat on his bed. Soon sitting turned into lying, and lying eventually became dozing. He had no idea how tired he was. The tour was over, the new album creation would begin soon, but first, he was home. After what seemed like 5 minutes, he awoke with the creaking of his door.

"Dan?" he heard whispered.

"Yeah?" he groggily said.

"Dinner," his mother simply said. He questioned the time, but soon rolled over to find the red digital numbers of his alarm clock reading six PM. He had fallen asleep for three hours. "Be right there, Mum," She shut the door. Rolling out of bed, he fixed his brown locks to be slightly less messy then before. Blinking rapidly, he tried waking up his blue eyes, but found his eye lids drooping just as much as before. Shrugging he walked out to the dinner table to find a hot, homemade meal awaiting his mouth. Sweet corn and steak were arranged to perfection on the china before him. He sat, his mouth watering for the home cooking.

"So Dan," his mother began the awkward introductory dinner conversation, "Tell me something about being on the road."

He scanned his mind. He certainly couldn't mention the numerous girls he had been with, his mother hadn't raised him that way. The binge drinking was out of the question as well. Running his hand through his hair, the idea came to him, "I missed home a lot Mum. Have you heard our new song?"

"Which one dear?"

"Home is Where the Heart Is." He looked at her and smirked. Even though the song had been more for their fans, he could use it to make his mum feel like she had a big role in his career. A toothy grin rose on his mother's lips. He nodded accomplishing his goal. "How are the boys doing?" she continued the conversation.

"They are great Mum. The band is really doing well. We work well together."

"That's so wonderful to hear." Sappy mum time was coming, Danny could feel it. "I'm just so happy that you are reaching all your dreams. You are so talented…" She continued; Danny simply smiled and nodded laughing on the inside. He received a similar speech every time he saw one of his parents. He began to ponder, _What was he going to do here for a whole month_. Sure, Vicky would visit a few times, but he hadn't kept in touch with many of his mates, and the ones he had were off living their lives away from Bolton. He loved his town, but there wasn't an immense amount of things to do. He figured he could get some good songs written, if there was nothing better to do. Music was always an option. He let his thoughts go for a minute and tuned back into his mum. She was finishing up her speech, ending with a question, "Have you had a chance to talk to Mrs. Grafton; she always loves hearing about you. Sometime this week you should stop over and have a chat with her."

He didn't have anything better to do, so he agreed. His old neighbor, Ms. Grafton, often watched him and his sister at a young age. She was strict and hardly ever smiled, but she was caring none the less. He would always get long lectures of the sensible things in life from her. Sometimes he felt as though she lived through him. He often told her vivid stories of what he had done at school or with his mates when he was younger. He always pictured her as somewhat of a sad lass. One of the only times he had seen her smile was when her brother, his wife and their child had come and visited. He mustn't have been more than twelve, but he remembered that week. He hadn't visited, but noticed her happiness from across the lawn. He had wondered why they didn't come back more often. She had never been married, and was in an awfully large house to be living in by her self. He figured she must be quite lonely. That week was the only exception to her lack of visitors other than his sister, his mother and him.

As he finished his dinner, he helped clean up and then escorted himself to his room, for a nice relaxing night by himself. He pressed the power on the remote, flicking through the channels he settled on Big Brother. Not fully interested in the outcome of the episode, he began to unpack his belongings. As he unzipped his first suitcase, a few stray fan letters fell out. Most were filled with the same rubbish, "I love you" and "You're so fit" etc. These ones were similar, but they were from America. McFly had barely made an impact on the American music scene. They thought the movie, Just My Luck, would break them into the big time, but the movie was a flop and the only press they received was the "relationship" between Harry and Lindsay and even that was very extensive in the states. Danny dreamed of playing a large crowd in Madison Square Garden, or touring all fifty states. Embracing American culture was always a past-time of his. From the music to the cars, he loved the idea of the US.

Reading over the letters once more, he set them on his dresser to finish his unpacking. He soon became exhausted and called it an early night. He planned to sleep as late as possible. Unfortunately his plans were ruined by the sun creeping through his window. Trying to fight daylight he squeezed his eyes tighter and pulled the covers over his head. He groaned, unable to fall back asleep. Carelessly rolling out of bed, he entangled himself in his sheets. He tripped and stumbled until he was free from the cotton mess. Getting ready took a fair amount of time, but he started to hurry when he got a whiff of the cinnamon buns baking in the kitchen. Danny swiped a fresh pastry.

"Danny, will you bring a few of these over to Ms. Grafton? She has a relative staying with her and I'm sure they would appreciate some," his mum asked.

He agreed and took a tray over to the Grafton household. Standing before the great wooden door, he rang the doorbell. Footsteps shuffled on the hard-wood floors after the clanging bell. Soon a bright-eyed Ms. Grafton answered the door. Without saying a word, she enclosed Danny into a massive hugs. Swinging his arm with the tray around her, he attempted to hug back. "Danny Jones, I've heard so much about you recently. How is everything going dear? It is so good to see you back, my cats have missed you."

Giving a slight laugh he just shrugged off her comments, and awkwardly presented the tray of pastries. "My mum wanted me to bring these over for you and," he paused and bit his lip, "someone who is staying with you?"

"Ah, yes I almost forgot." Her aged hands grabbed the tray of goodies from Danny and yelled out, "Ryder. We have a guest I would like you to meet."

First he saw a young boy, baggy jeans, black sweatshirt, hood pulled over his head covering the eyes of the guest.

"Oh take that silly hood down dear," Ms. Grafton told her guest, reaching to pull the hood down her self. Before she could get to it, tanned hands rose up and took the hood down. Dark auburn tendrils fell from behind the material. Grey eyes starred at Danny. This was no young boy, it was a young women. She licked her lips and left them in an unemotional line across her face. Her eyes didn't look long at Danny before they found a permanent place at her feet.

"Ryder is my niece she will be staying with me for awhile," she introduced, "Ryder, this is Danny, he has lived next door to me since he was born. He is also in a band that's pretty famous in England."

She silently nodded raising her slate eyes too look at him once more as if to memorize his face. "Nice to meet you." Her voice was soft with no emotion.

_She's awfully rude_, Danny thought to himself. Awkward silence filled the room.

"Well Danny do you have any plans for your short trip home?" Ms. Grafton filled the void of silence.

"Not yet."

"Maybe you could take Ryder around, she doesn't know anyone and is awfully shy, she could sure use a friend." Ryder's face scrunched. The last thing she wanted was companionship. Danny noticed the expression on her face and rolled his eyes. The truth was he didn't have anything better to do, but this girl did not want him around and he certainly was not about to be a burden in someone's life.

"I could." He tried to give an answer that made him seem like a good guy, but get out of the deed.

"Ah, that would be wonderful," Ms. Grafton placed her arm around the brooding young women, "Wouldn't it Ryder?"

Her voice was shaky and cold, "Yes Aunt Mildred." She locked her eyes with Danny's once more and shrugged as best as she could while her aunt's arm was firmly placed around her shoulders.

This began the weirdest trip home Danny had ever been on. The mystery of the girl next door was forced upon him and he would never be able to turn back. He could feel her eyes when no one was around. She had seemed so inconsiderate and rude, yet he couldn't get her face, tanned and angelic with a touch of anger and disappointment, out of his head. He closed his eyes and there she was, he looked out his window, he would see her in her window, pen in hand slumped over a desk. Who was she? Why was she here? Questions that would be easy, if she didn't keep so many secrets.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own McFly tear**

_Enjoy_

A day had passed; Danny avoided going over to the Grafton household. Strumming away at his guitar, he heard the doorbell chime. He set down his brilliant red guitar on his comforter, and went to get the door. Before he reached the door, he overheard voices chattering downstairs. One he recognized as his mother and the other was unidentifiable…American even. Slowly he peaked around the corner to get a glimpse of the guest. There she stood, tall, tanned, and smiling? Her hair was pulled back in some fancy curled messy hair-do. Danny could not look away from Ryder; he questioned her smile. Gritting her teeth, it seemed almost painful to smile. Danny furrowed his brow and looked away from her perfectly straight teeth and found that her eyes had already found his.

He quickly dodged behind the corner, but her eyes still managed to burn into his retinas. Yesterday Danny hadn't even noticed she was American, or that she always seemed to be burdened by something. He closed his eyelids and listened to the rest of their conversation. It seemed harmless until he was brought up. His mother started discussing his music career, he listened for Ryder's response, but he heard nothing. Peaking back around the corner, she was nodding her head, listening intensely. Once again her grey eyes met with his blue ones. This time his mother noticed Ryder's shift of focus and followed her gaze to her son.

"Oh Danny!" she called. He groaned under his breath and descended the stairs that separated them. He plastered a smirk on his face and entered into the conversation.

"I was just telling Ryder here that you didn't have any plans and maybe you could show her around Bolton today." When his mother used the words maybe, that means "you are going to".

"Alright," he agreed with out much hesitation. He questioned his lack of delay, but knew there was no backing out now. "Let me just grab a jumper and we can go now."

Ryder cocked her eyebrow in dismay of the agreeable boy. They both had a feeling the other wanted nothing to do with the other. It was an odd feeling for Danny. He was used to girls lusting after him and wanting to get to know him. Of course, these girls only seemed to want him because he was in one of the biggest bands in the UK and he had soothing vocals. Ryder was different, she was American and she probably knew nothing about McFly. Danny was beginning to doubt himself. Low self-esteem was never a problem for the twenty year old. This girl had more power over him than he realized. Trying to just shrug it off, he grabbed a pull-over off the floor and met her back in the foyer.

"Ready?" he asked her. It was his first direct words to her. She simply nodded and they left his mother beaming in the entry way, waving at their departure.

"What a sweet girl," she said to her self as she continued on with her day.

Danny fought for words to say as they drove along in his Mini Cooper. He bit his lip before he came up with the simple, "So you're American. Where are you from?"

She looked at him as thought he was stupid, "America."

Before he could argue the fact that he wanted a specific state, she chimed in, "Enough about me. I saw Just My Luck."

She did know who he was, exactly who he was. He racked his brain for something clever to say back to that comment. "I thought we weren't talking about you." He referred to the fact that she had watched a movie, rather than she had seen a movie he was in. She cracked a smile, but quickly hid it and took a deep breath. The car became silent once again. Danny realized he was aimlessly driving to nothing. Instead of figuring something to say, he decided to take her to the mall.

_Girls like that, right?_ He questioned himself. The rest of the car ride was silent. Ryder stared out the window, her eyes fixated on the scenery. The buildings were new to her; everything had so much history and artistic design. Now Danny had no excuse to think of a topic to discuss.

"So…" he began.

"This is pretty awkward huh?" she spoke out, "You know you can just drive me home if you don't want to hang out. It's cool. I mean I'm probably just cramming your style." She started to ramble. "I'd understand you know? You don't have to be nice to me, its ok." Her voice was more hurt than indirect. Her lip wavering slightly, but yet she kept a strong exterior.

"I WANT TO HANG OUT WITH YOU." He surprised himself by yelling to cut her off. She was left speechless. Focusing her eyes on her shoes, she was unable to respond to his outburst and after a few moments muttered, "Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Danny questioned.

Ryder began on a little rant, "I guess it's just becoming a habit."

"What is?"

"Assuming people are just being nice to me, because…" she stopped herself.

"Because why?"

She just looked at him, not answering his question.

"Right…enough about you," he retorted sarcastically. "Why won't you tell me more about yourself?"

"Just can't right now, okay?"

"Alright, but I'll get it out of you Ryder."

She stared directly into his blue eyes, "Don't count on it."

Attempting to keep her face serious, she bit her lip, but it soon turned into a smirk which escaladed into a full-fledged smile. It was contagious. Soon Danny was smiling and before they knew it they started laughing. Not a polite quiet laugh, but a hardy, gut-wrenching laugh, one unable to stop. He continued to drive, soon pulling into Crompton Place Shopping Centre. Their laughs had subsided a bit, at least enough for Ryder to manage a few words.

"I haven't laughed that hard in about a year, actually I don't think I've laughed at all in that year."

"A year without laughter, how did you live," Danny spoke on the brink of more laughter. He assumed she was exaggerating to emphasize how hard they were laughing.

Becoming very serious she simply stated, "I didn't." Her eyes became sad and fell to the floor again. She tried to shake off the overcoming emotions, so Danny wouldn't notice too much, "Where are we?"

"Mall. Don't you girls enjoy that?"

She smirked, "But do you like shopping? I don't want to bore you for hours."

"Wait…hours?" his eyes filled up is face. "How many hours are you planning to shop."

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you." She stepped out of the car, leaving Danny baffled in the driver's seat. She walked around the Mini Cooper and lowered herself to his window and knocked on the glass. "You coming?" speaking loud enough for the him to hear through the glass. He jumped slightly, surprised of her presence.

They charged into the mall, Ryder pulling Danny by his elbow. She had never shopped in a foreign country before. Within twenty minutes, Danny was surrounded by teenage girls throwing themselves at him. Asking for autographs was minimum action being taken. After they started undoing his belt-buckle, he decided to make a run for it. He looked straight at Ryder, telling her to somehow help him. She nodded and he took off. The girls took off after him. Shrieks were heard echoing throughout the entire building. Giving them a few moments, she took off after them.

Catching up to Danny, she grabbed his hand to help him run even a millisecond faster. They were a good 50 feet away from the crowd. Quickly turning a corner she pushed him into the loo. She then continued running. When the girls turned the corner, she ran into the nearest store, and started screaming, "OMG DANNY MARRY ME!!"

Following her yelp, they burst into the store. Looking around for him, he was no where to be scene. Ryder soon pointed her finger to the fitting rooms. "He's in there," she announced, then disappeared into the crowd. She snuck through the masses and found herself back in the mall's corridor. Nonchalantly walking into the loo, she had pushed Danny into. He was no where to be found. Groaning loudly, she rushed out of the male restroom, getting plenty of odd looks of customers passing by. She shook off the glances and went on her search for Danny.

Before she could find him, he found her. About a half hour into her search, she was walking by the food court when she heard her name being shouted. Danny was waving his hands, above his head which was adorned with a baseball cap, an odd hat for the McFly boy. "Nice disguise, they are going to have so much trouble figuring out it's you," she said sarcastically once she reached his table, rolling her eyes along with the comment. "Let's get you out of here." Leaving his half-eaten food at the table she pulled him to the car.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked, puzzled at what they could possibly do.

"Where don't you get recognized? I mean I love running from pre-adolescents and everything, but I've had my exorcize for today."

He truly had no answer for the question. Thinking long and hard, he came up with one place.

Well that's it for chapter 2…to get chapter 3, I need reviews…lots of reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own McFly unfortunately and this chapter I make up "facts" about Danny's life they are just for the story they do not actually reflect on the actual life of Danny Jones. Thank you. _

_Thank you all so much for the positive comments, I love them, they are what inspire me to update, so you know what you gotta do to keep this story coming. wink_

Danny whispered into his phone. She knew she wouldn't be able to overhear his low, husky voice, especially with his accent which she had yet to get used to, but Ryder strained to hear anyway. To no avail she was left in mystery in the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" Ryder begged, jutting out her bottom lip trying to pout. Danny didn't tear his eyes away from the road, "Why aren't you looking? I'm pouting." She jokingly told him.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to resist that sad face of yours. I'm a sucker for puppy eyes." He jested back. Crossing her arms across her chest, she put a fake, but comfortable grimace on her face. This time he glanced over to see her in her state of not knowing.

"You don't like surprises do you?"

"Most of the time surprises don't turn out very good." She looked out the window, not wanting to fake disappointment anymore.

"Like how?" he pressed. When she didn't answer, he knew to not go any deeper into the topic. There was so much he didn't know. Actually when he thought about it all he knew was her name was Ryder, she was from America, and she was Mrs. Grafton's niece. He didn't even know some important basics. Figuring they would be a perfect subject and innocent topic change he began with a very common question. "How old are you anyway?"

"19. You're 20 right?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?" he skeptically asked.

"My aunt doesn't stop talking about her 'little rock star'." She used air quotes around rock star. He was about to interject, but Ryder began to open up, "You are the closest thing she's had to family for years. I know she never would, but thanks. Sometimes I wished I could have run away and lived with her, but after some things, surprises you could say, we just grew apart. She's too headstrong to ever thank you, your mom and sister, but she needed you guys. So, I'm thanking you for her. Thank you Danny Jones." She smiled as she finished her rant.

"I think that is the most I've heard you talk, with everything you've said combined."

"I'm more of a listener," she defended.

"And we are at our destination."

An aged painted sign read, Gallagher's Restaurant. He pulled around to the back and parked in between the dumpsters. The area was dark and shady and made Ryder a little uneasy. She attempted to cover up her apprehension by making a quick joke, "This isn't where you kill me is it?"

As they stepped out of the car, he looked at her from over the top of the roof, and replied seriously, "Yes."

All the blood drained from her face and her grey eyes turned into the most colorless hue. He saw the emotion shift in her face and he immediately regretted what he just said. "I'm only kidding Ry." He chuckled a little to make her feel better. Walking around the car, he bent to her level and said, "Don't worry, trust me."

Trying to cover up her insecurities she told him, "As long as you don't call me Ry."

Lifting his right hand and held up three fingers in Cub Scout manner, "Scout's honor." He told her. This boyish gesture make her feel a whole bunch better has she took the hand that had made the promise, as he led her into the back of the old building. Ryder desperately tried to remember where they were. The name of the restaurant, street, anything, but she was too wrapped up in talking to Danny to pay much attention to details. For some reason she really wanted to remember this: this moment, his expression, the conversation, everything. She found herself feeling guilty. She should try to remember all the moments of her past no matter how difficult it was. She shouldn't be enjoying herself, she jus shouldn't. Nothing could change the past, but she couldn't let go.

They sat at a small, cozy booth. The royal blue table cloth contrasted with the restaurant and the crystal place setting didn't blend with the family style appearance. Since the table was so well hidden Ryder didn't notice and figured the entire restaurant was as fancy as the set-up before them. She whined slightly, "Danny," she held out the y, "This is too nice."

"I'm a rock star. I settle for nothing but the best," he cockily explained.

She laughed and enjoyed the experience. As dinner started and conversation picked up, things got too close to home for her. She was not ready to trust Danny yet.

"How long are you living with your aunt?" he asked.

She paused long enough for him to realize that even Ryder didn't know the answer to that question. Completely changing the subject she spoke with spunk, "OMG," imitating a valley girl, "I've never been this close to a rock star before. Marry me Danny! Sign my boob!" The brief statement lightened the mood for both parties.

She let go of the valley girl impression and began a legit conversation, "So why this place Mr. Jones?"

"I grew up at Gallagher's," he simply stated, "The owner is a family friend," he continued his story, "When I was younger I used to take my guitar and sit in the corner of the restaurant and play for the customers. The owner let me collect all tips and I saved up and saved up for my first electric guitar and amp. This place is seriously where I got my start."

Placing her hand over her heart, Ryder awed at his heartwarming story. "That was cute." She wiped away a fake tear.

"Must you be so sarcastic?"

She shrugged and smiled cutely and answered coyly, "Yes."

"Can I know anything about you," he paused, "at all?"

"My middle name is Elizabeth. My favorite color is orange. Good enough?"

Shaking his head and laughing under his breath, "I'll get more out of you eventually, Ryder Elizabeth."

Simply rolling her eyes was the only response she could muster up. She didn't trust the rock star yet. This had only been her second day of meeting him. As they finished up, Danny refused to allow Ryder to pay. She managed to convince him to let her pay the tip. Her stubborn and bullheadedness was a part of why Danny was so curious about her. He wondered if it was an American thing.

The day had been long and Danny was extremely worn out. Running away from fans was not exactly what he categorized as fun. When they pulled into Danny's driveway, they parted their ways. Moments after stepping in the door his mother began to grill him on the day's events. She phrased everything like a statement, but he knew better than to not answer his mother's inquisitive statements.

"What a beautiful girl. You must have had fun."

"Yeah Mom, we ran into some trouble at the mall."

"You were recognized dear?"

He nodded and she ushered him to his room, "You are tired aren't you dear. Rest up and I will see you tomorrow morning."

His mother was a character. Lying on the bed he rethought the day. He had to tell one of the guys about Ryder. Maybe they had some insight on how they could reach her. Just as he picked up his mobile phone, he noticed her through his window. She had yet to realize their windows lined up perfectly. Disappearing from Danny's view, he leaned to see if he could see her with a different angle. Soon she reappeared in the center of the window in a change of clothing. He saw her arm extend and fiddle with something on the conveniently placed desk. Soon that hand flicked back into picture and was stretched in front of her, joined soon by her other arm.

He took his phone, with new video capability and recorded her. She gracefully spun around the room. Leaping and jumping was added later to her routine. As he paid closer attention, he could make out the expression on her face. Pure bliss. Dancing about was one of the most beautiful things he could possibly witness. Her dancing became more intensive over time. Hip hop was the style he recognized it as. It put a smile on his face. She put a smile on his face. His phone had stopped recording ages ago, but he still watched intently. Her curves moved fluidly as she pranced and…she stopped. Beginning to fan herself with her hand, she had really worked up a sweat. She took off the t-shirt to reveal a black sports bra. She continued to dance freely after partially stripping for an unknown audience.

He noticed more than her moves this time. Her lean center was built and her movement seemed twice as graceful when he could see every movement of her body. Most of the time he would overlook girls like her. Maybe on the inside he didn't feel as though he could be good enough. He was a rock star and many girls lusted after him, but of those girls he found himself sleeping with were the whorish ones. Ryder wasn't like that, she was respectable and took pride in her appearance or so it seemed. He just wished she would open up more. At first he assumed she was just shy, but now he felt as though there was a secret. Not just something little, something huge, something that affected her entire life. He sensed her need for someone and he wanted to be that, but he had no idea how to earn her trust. Maybe he wanted more than trust, he didn't know. She left him confused and unsure of himself. No girl had ever taken him aback like that.

Danny needed help and who else to go to but the pros themselves: Tom, Harry and Dougie.

_Okay so that is Chapter 3, love it or hate it, but no matter what comment it. Without comment (lots..hehe) there are no updates. _


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own McFly_

_And we begin again…_

Who should he call first, Danny pondered. Dougie was her age, so he figured he may have a little insight on what a girl of the same age would want. It's not that Danny wasn't her age, because he was only a year older, but he just needed some insight on this whole situation. He pressed a few buttons on his phone to call Dougie. It rang once, twice and finally he picked up on the other end.

Answering the phone with a nontraditional greeting he said, "How home Dan?"

"It's not bad, how about for you?"

"It's decent. My friends here pretty much made me their god, no big deal."

"Right," was the only skeptical comeback Danny could come up for him.

"We are only three days into break, did you really miss me that much already."

"You wish, actually I need your help."

Puzzled, Dougie was curious to find out what Danny could possibly need help with. Danny didn't really like asking for help, unless it came to collaboration on writing music. "Well there's this girl…"

Dougie didn't allow him to finish his statement before jutting in his opinion, "Like you are having problems with girls. Girls throw themselves at you constantly. How could you being having problems."

Danny heard Dougie laughing and tried to reword and defend his words, "It's not like that Doug. I'm not trying to sleep with her; she needs a friend or something. She won't tell me anything about herself. She's got some big secret past or anything. I just have this urge to help her."

"Maybe she's a lesbian," Dougie suggested. In response Danny rolled his eyes, even though he was well aware his expression could not be seen over the phone. A brilliant idea popped into Danny's head. "Do you want to see this girl?"

"I guess, but if she's a lesbian Danny, you got no shot, I mean you looked great in that nurse's outfit, but you got junk in the front." He referred to the Please, Please video shoot.

Competently ignoring Dougie's statement, Danny pulled the phone away from his ear. Mumbles were still heard through the receiver. Paying no attention, he opened the recent recorded video, selected the destination to the current number he was dialed to, and pressed send. Moments later, his companion put him on hold to watch the girl dance. The video was fuzzy and while Dougie enjoyed the recording, Danny decided to review his filming skills. Watching her bound about brought back every element of mystery to his head. Abruptly stopping, the last image to be frozen on the screen was in the middle of shedding her t-shirt. The curves of her stomach were imprinted on his mind.

Pressing his ear back against the speaker, he awaited Dougie's answer. "Well the video was unfocused and a little shaking, but she looks hot. I'm not getting the lesbian vibe."

"Okay so what do I do? How can I earn her trust."

"How the hell should I know?"

"I need some suggestion, I've got nothing."

"Well, um," he thought long and hard, "Well be her friend."

"Obviously, but how do you get someone to open up."

In his most feminine voice Dougie could muster up he said, "Slumber party!"

Simply agreeing was the only way to make him stop. Danny thanked his band mate for the suggestion and finished with a little chat about what was going on at home for Dougie. Hanging up eventually, Danny had to figure out how to execute Dougie's suggestion. Should he get her attention through her window, giving away the fact that their windows were completely lined up or should he just go over there. Right now he was wishing he had gotten her number to make it easier. How could he forget, she was living at his neighbor's house, he had the number for that. Walking out of his room, he found his mother's address book.

He scanned the G's for Ms. Grafton's number. His finger slid down the page, finally landing at the destination. Dialing the number carefully, he waited a moment before pressing send. The phone seemed to take forever to connect and then the ringing almost felt like slow motion to him. What resembled an eternity, this life long neighbor picked up on the other end. "Hello?" she inquisitively answered.

"Hey Ms. G," he coolly responded.

"Oh Danny! How was your day today? Thank you so much for taking my niece out, she really needed to get out of the house. You are such a thoughtful young man. You will have to join us for dinner sometime this week. Maybe Thursday? I think I might make my famous ravioli…" she kept going, but all Danny could hear was, "Blah, blah, blah."

He would randomly add in "Yeah" or "Mmhmm." Forever had just doubled and eternity dragged on as she continued to talk. Finally she paused for a long enough moment for Danny to get a few words in, "Is Ryder available? I was wondering if she would like to come over for a bit."

Without even consulting her niece, "Ryder would love to."He heard her voice in the background, "I would love to what?"

Danny heard Ms. Grafton's ring clink against the receiver and he assumed she placed her hand over the phone trying to block what she was going to say to her niece, but he heard what she said anyway. "I have Daniel on the phone and he has invited you to come over. Go get ready and head over there."

He had a feeling she would have argued the point if he had asked her himself. Sensing she made a face making it seem as though she didn't want to go, her aunt said, "Come on Ryder. He's such a handsome boy. Go have fun. You need fun." She stressed the word fun. She came back onto the phone with Danny and he pretend as though he had heard nothing of what she had said to Ryder. "She is so excited," she lied, "She is on her way over."

"Thank you so much Ms. Grafton," he said in his most polite voice, "I will see you on Thursday for dinner?"

"Ah yes of course, for ravioli."

"I'm looking forward to it, see you soon." Ending on that note, he hung up the phone and waited for his new-found friend. He began to regret inviting her over. Did he seem desperate; they had been hanging out all day and all of a sudden he wanted to spend all night with her too. What were they going to do? What did girls do at sleepovers? He wasn't about to do the whole facial and pillow fighting thing. Rethinking the stereotypical pillow fights, he determined that wouldn't be so bad if she was in her underwear like girls were in movies. She didn't seem like that kind of girl so he put that idea out of his mind. That was it, they could watch movies. Girls liked movies, he liked movies, it was appropriate. Then he became paranoid that they wouldn't be interested in the same genres. He became so worried that he almost didn't notice the doorbell ring. Luckily he got to the door before his mother; the last thing he wanted was for another conversation to arise about him. Invited her in and quickly pondered whether to go to his room or go to the living room. She interjected before he could decide.

"Your house is beautiful. Could you show me around?" He agreed and began a quick tour of his home. As it worked out, the last room he showed was his bedroom. He hoped she wouldn't assume that he wanted her to come over just to sleep with her. That was the last thing he needed to do if he wanted to earn her trust. After the tour, she asked, "Did you miss me that much that you couldn't even wait 'til tomorrow?"

Her question felt a little bit like déjà vu, it resembled Dougie's question from the phone conversation earlier that day. The truth was he wanted to be around her as much as possible. He wanted to know everything in her life and he wanted to know now. He had never been this curious about a girl before. Actually he recalled being intrigued by a young girl when he was about 13. She had dark hair that had a faint red glitter in her hair. She was energetic and full of life; she did cartwheels and screamed at the top of her lungs for no reason. These were during his shy years. It was the week that Ms. Grafton had visitors. The young girl bounded and leaped as if she was on the moon. She captured his heart and he couldn't even go over to talk to her. He hadn't thought about those days for a long time. Picturing the little girl again dancing and flipping in the front yard, his mind shot back to today watching Ryder through the window.

By this time they were sitting in awkward silence. Two and two were put together, the girl from when he was 13 was Ryder; Ryder was the girl from when he was 13. He must have had a quite surprised look on his face cause once he snapped back into reality she was giving him an awfully strange look. "What?" he awkwardly asked, darting his eyes from side to side.

"Well we've been sitting her for about ten minutes and I'm beginning to wonder why you invited me over," she asked with a little bit of a disappointed tone.

"Sorry," he immediately apologized. He began to think he should fill her in on his previous thoughts, they could show that he's always cared about her. It might be risky, but at this point he was frantic for any topic for conversation. He continued his apology, "I was just remembering this week from when I was little. There was this girl over at Ms. Grafton's who just caught my attention and I was always too shy to talk to her. Then when I really thought about, which made me completely space out just now, that girl was you."

Her cheeks turned crimson and she was unable to react to his remembrance. Then her mind shot back to those days. She was happy; she could dance freely without having to think about it. Everything was so easy and care-free. Smiling didn't feel guilty then. Visiting her aunt was a vacation, not her life. Everything she had left behind rushed back into her head. Her eyes glossed over, and a tear slipped out. Danny immediately noticed the tear and regretted everything. He shouldn't have taken Dougie's advice. It was too soon to see her again, he was being pushy. Wanting to wrap his arms around her and give her a big hug, he held back thinking that he would be considered too forward.

She wasn't upset with Danny, but it was just too much at one time. She didn't want to remember. Soon her hands rushed to cover her eyes. Danny couldn't figure out what to do, he had never been in this position before. Most girls he saw crying were trying to get his attention and freaking out because they were so close to him. He didn't know how to handle this situation, so he the only thing he could think of one thing to do. Reaching out his hand, he placed it on her knee. Unable to handle his touch, she pushed it away lightly. Pulling her hands away, she was able to manage to speak with her quivering lip, "Thank you for inviting me over. I will talk to you soon."

This was such a foreign situation to him so he managed to come back with a 'sorry' and led her to the front door. He kept his hand on her back as they walked to the front door. His hand stayed there until she had completely passed through the door. His blue eyes didn't stare away from her, looking until she was out of sight. Returning to his room, he stared out the window. Soon she burst into her room and immediately sat at her desk. Even from across the yard, Danny could see the massive amount of tears falling from her grey eyes. It was so hard to watch, yet he couldn't look away. Bending down, she grabbed something out of a drawer and continued with her tears.

She began to write furiously. Her pen ripped across the page. Everything exploded. Danny could sense her frustration and maybe even a little fear. He wished there was more he could do. She left him with more questions and being more curious. He hated this feeling and just wanted it to go away. He wanted her to let him in, not close him out like she had be doing and he certainly wouldn't be going to Dougie for anymore advice. He watched her intently until she finally decided to get to sleep. Taking that as his cue, he laid down with his hand positioned behind his head. It took awhile for him to fall asleep. He tossed and turned with her on his mind. Ryder was driving him crazy and neither she nor he had any clue of what to do next.

_Now I have more, but to get it, the person who just finished this story has to review. So push the button and tell me what you think. I appreciate them all, good and bad they keep me going and wanting to update. So that's your cue to review. Thank you._


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I don't own McFly tear_

_I really do appreciate all your comments. Thank you so much! I'm glad you guys are liking it, 'cause I'm trying really hard and it's nice to know people enjoy what I do. Love you guys!!!_

_What will happen next…_

The day began too early for Danny. He was unable to sleep. Feeling guilty for making Ryder cry was one of the main reasons behind his sleepless night. It was too early to start getting new advice from another one of his band mates, so he just lay there, staring at the white ceiling, replaying yesterday in his head. It all started so sweet and innocent. He still remembered her eyes burning into him, without her even being in sight. It all ended in tears. He wasn't sure if it was something he said that had triggered them or if had just been building up inside of her, and it chose that moment to come out. No matter what the circumstance Danny wanted to help. He had never cared so much and it was beginning to scare him.

He finally pulled himself out of bed and grabbed his guitar in the corner of the room. Strumming away he found a melody that worked. And he replayed it over and over until it felt perfect. Now it was time for the lyrics. He hummed a rhythm that worked over the guitar chords. He looked out side his window and saw her lying in her bed. Her figure was wrapped in blankets and it seemed extremely peaceful as she didn't move a single time.

Putting away his guitar unable to come up with lyrics, he looked at her, he felt like a child again. He realized that even though he didn't know her when he wrote the song, Walk in the Sun, she was the inspiration. She had been that girl that had made him shy and he wondered every day about her when he was little. She had been his muse for that song, he wanted to know what it was like to be loved by her then and he wanted to know what it felt like that now. Until now he was unable to put a finger on where that song came from, but now he knew. He knew it was her. Something had brought him to this point and something had been brought her back to him.

Something in him didn't want to know specific reasons on why she came back and just wanted to enjoy her company, but he knew that if he ever wanted to be close with her, he had to know all the answers. He still didn't know how to get the answers to all the questions. Ryder won't talk about it and he was at a loss for what to do now. He had hadn't realized that he had just spend so much time pondering. Not being able to take the waiting, he decided to call one of the other McFly boys. Frantically pushing buttons, he needed some insight now.

"Hey man," Harry answered his phone.

"Hey how is break going?" Danny dodged the questions he really wanted to ask. They chatted about break and it was inevitable that Ryder came into conversation naturally when Harry asked about Danny's break.

"She's the reason you called, huh?" Harry cut to the chase.

"Yeah man, I just don't know what to do. She holds so many secrets, and she won't even hint at what they could possibly be. I'm going to be totally honest, her mystery is drawing me in and I'm falling for her." He exhaled, he had admitted it out loud and it felt great, but now that he had let it out there he felt vulnerable and small. There was no going back now. Harry would tell the other guys and soon they would be asking millions of questions every second they were on the road and if he ever got upset they would immediately assume it was something with her. He wasn't sure he was able to face the consequences of his words. "What do I do man, what do I do?" his voice sounded hurt.

"Okay, okay man, let's see." He paused too long for Danny's liking. He waited even longer than for Dougie's response. Although Dougie's idea failed miserably, he didn't want to wait this long for another idea that could possibly fail.

Finally Harry spoke. Words of wisdom were the only way to describe what came out of his mouth. "Why don't you just ask her aunt? She has to know exactly why her niece as come to live with her."

The idea was obvious. Why didn't he think it before? He was so quick to hang up, he barely said good-bye to Harry. Now he had to figure out when and how to ask Ms. Grafton. If he went over to her house, Ryder would certainly be there and he didn't want her to know about him wanting to know about her. He had already made an ass of himself last night and he didn't need her thinking any worse of him.

He hated that he cared so much; it was not a typical Danny Jones move. Putting that aside he focused on when and how to ask his neighbor. He didn't have a ton of time here and he wanted to maximize his time home, hopefully with Ryder's company. He had been invited to dinner on Thursday, but today was only Tuesday, he couldn't wait that long. As if an angel was answering his prayers the doorbell rang. He sprinted to answer it. He assumed it would be either Ryder or Ms. Grafton, but it was neither. Some door-to door salesman was on the other side of the door. A disappointed Danny didn't let him get one word in before slamming the door in his face.

Back to square one with figuring out how to approach Ms. Grafton. He couldn't take it anymore; he marched across the grass between the two houses. He knocked fiercely on the wooden door. Ms. Grafton answered promptly and Danny turned on his charm. Before he could speak his neighbor began the conversation, "Did you want me to go get Ryder. She must love having a friend."

"No, no, no, no," he spit out quickly, "I was wondering if you would take a walk with me on this lovely morning." She was taken aback by the offer from the young man and accepted his proposal. They began to walk and talk. He started slow with his topics. Figuring if he worked into Ryder's deep dark secrets, her aunt would be more willing to give him the answers.

"It must be wonderful having your niece living with you," he began.

"Ah, yes it is quiet magnificent. She is such a great young lady."

"Was she the one who came and visited you that one week when I was younger?" He pretended that he actually didn't know the answer to the question to make it more realistic.

"Yes that was her. She was such a ball of energy."

"Really?" he inquisitively asked.

"Yes. Why the reluctant tone?"

It was a perfect way to edge into the real reason he brought her on this walk. The sun was beaming and it all seemed to be fitting together just right. "Well," he started, "she just seems to have something that's keeping her from being energetic."

He was hoping for a long-drawn out story about what exactly was and has gone on with Ryder but all he got was, "She's been through a lot recently and it's really taken a toll on her."

So he pushed for a more detailed answer, "Like what?"

"Oh dear, don't worry. No need to bring down our glorious walk with upsetting conversation." He was completely shut down and he had no idea what to do. If he brought it back up she may get suspicious. He slowly blew out air out of his nose while his lips were pursed. He tried to keep conversation with the woman, but he was defeated and wanted nothing more than to back to his room and figure out a new way to find out about Ryder. Ms. Grafton was no help at all, well, he rethought it a bit. She was a little help. He now knew that she did not have it easy recently and there were actual problems behind her coldness. At least he knew it wasn't his entire fault. The rest of walk just became a blur and he went onto auto-pilot, answering with "yeah" and "mmmhmm" once again. He tended to do that when he was in deep thought.

Finally he made it back home after telling Ms. Grafton almost everything that was going on with McFly and listening to her tell stories of nothingness. Rushing to his room, he picked up his guitar once again. Playing guitar always destressed him. He strummed the same melody as before and hummed along, but no lyrics arrived yet. No ideas came to his head of what he could possibly do to get Ryder to open up to him. He had one more person to call on his list. Tom.

Tom was good with words, maybe he could figure out something to say to her. With that, he set down his guitar and picked up his mobile phone. Pressing the correct buttons to connect Tom by speed dial he waited for his band mate to pick up on the other end. It went straight to voice mail. He was probably with his girlfriend and ignored Danny's call. That didn't stop Danny; he called and called and called. He must have tried nearly hundred times before Tom finally picked up.

"Whoa man, I stepped out for a moment and I have a million missed calls, what's the urgency?"

"I'm going to get right down to it," he took a deep breath, "There is this girl named Ryder and she's driving me crazy. She moved in next door with my aunt for some unknown reason to me, and she has all these secrets. I've this need to get to know her and I don't know how to even get close to her. She won't open up to me and...and.." he began to stutter, "and I just need to reach her. I have a feeling that I have to. And Dougie and Harry didn't help at all, so I'm relying on you man. I need you to pull through with me."

A huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and Tom answered much quicker than the other two musicians. "It can't be. What did you say her name was?"

Danny didn't really see the importance of it, but if it helped Tom help him he didn't care and answered, "It's Ryder. What can't be?"

"And her last name is?" Tom continued.

He hadn't asked that, but he assumed it was the same as Ms. Grafton, so he told him what he thought.

Then Tom shocked Danny by saying, "Ryder Elizabeth Grafton?"

"How did you know that?" Danny was almost hyperventilating at that moment. He was freaked out. Tom could sense his friend's uneasiness so he took it slow, "Well…"

_Wanna know what Tom knows? Do you really? Do you know what you have to do to get that information? Well I will answer one of those questions. REVIEW silly!! Since the next chapter is kind of a big deal I will need LOTS of reviews. I have the chapter ready, so it's up to you to get it as soon as possible. Hehe._


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I don't own McFly_

_Wow you're comments are wonderful!!! You guys are great!!!_

_The secrets unfold…_

'Well," Danny heard Tom take a deep breath.

"Spit it out man," Danny impatiently urged.

"Okay, well I was looking through fan mail the other day…"

Cutting him off, he asked, "Ryder wrote a fan letter?"

"No, let me finish."

"Fine, fine." Danny almost couldn't handle it anymore. How could Tom know something about her that he didn't know? In the time it took to Tom to finish his story, Danny's mind flooded with thousands of scenarios. He started to think that maybe he didn't want to know. Maybe it would ruin his view of the beautiful girl next door. He took short quick breaths.

Finally Tom spoke, "Well let me just read it to you."

There was no turning back now as he began to read the fan letter.

"_**Dear McFly, **_

**_I'm not writing for me, but my best friend, Ryder Elizabeth Grafton is one of your biggest fans. Recently she had to move to England and since you guys are from there I was wondering if you could help her out. Ryder was studying dance in LA when I met her. For as long as I've known her she's loved your music. When her parents and 6 year-old brother were murdered earlier this year, she turned to songs like "I'll Be OK" and "Not Alone." _**

**_Figuring she would just finish out school and start living on her own, she continued with her dance career. It was a huge struggle living with the idea that she had no more family and every day was painful, but her emotion was put into her dancing. She was dancing every minute of everyday and soon she was dancing instead of eating. It's not that she meant to go anorexic; she just didn't know what to do with herself. If that wasn't bad, she soon found out that her dad had gambled all of her money that was saved for school and she could not afford any of things she needed to. Her aunt Mildred was really her only welcoming relative, so she moved 5000 miles away. _**

**_She got help for her anorexia and she seems to be healthy physically, but I can't say the same as mentally. She has basically gone mute. She won't talk to me anymore; she won't talk to anyone anymore. If we do end up connecting she won't talk about her feelings, but I can tell she needs someone to open up to. Ryder always seems more concerned with the well-fare of others around her and hardly focuses on herself. _**

**_ I don't know if there's anything you guys could do, but I know that she would love to meet the four of you, or even just one. I'm at a loss for what to do to help her. Maybe you could help. Something simple like even going to your show would be something that would mean a lot to her. This may be a loss cause writing to you; I understand you have very busy schedules and helping Ryder may not fit into your lifestyle. I just don't know what to do. I'm sorry if this letter wasted your time. _**

_**Sincerely,**_

**_Kara Lynn Lovelace"_**

Both boys were silent. Danny swallowed trying to relieve his cotton-mouth. Swallowing repeatedly was the only the only reaction he could muster. Whispering, he managed to say, "Um, thanks man. Talk to you later."

"You going to be okay, Dan?"

"Um…yeah?" he wasn't able to phrase it any other way. He didn't know how to handle the news at all. He expect something life changing, but not horrible. _Murder_. _Murder_. He repeated the word over and over in his head. _Murder_. _Murder_.

No wonder she didn't open up to him. He couldn't imagine all the pain she must be going though. Now he understood why she had cried. He brought up a beautiful memory, but the key to that story was that she was with her parents on that trip, before they had been killed. She was so lucky not to be with her family when that happened, but he bet that sometimes she felt like she should have been there, with her family. Her family could have used her; maybe she could have saved them. She must have felt so guilty. What was he supposed to do? He wasn't supposed to know. How could he act like he didn't know? Everyone saw his acting job in Just My Luck, it was not pretty.

His hand reached to his cheek, they were wet. He was crying. They were uncontrollable. Sniffling and grabbing tissue after tissue could not stop these tears. The last time he had cried had been during their trip to Uganda for Comic Relief. Managing to let the tears subside slightly he started to think semi-clearly. There were more elements to that letter other than murder. She really did know McFly, not only did she know them she was a fan. Although this was not the most important component of the letter, to think her friend said that just meeting us would help. Thinking over his last days with Ryder, he hadn't seemed to help at all. Actually she didn't even seem to really want him around, but then why did she come last night? It was true that her aunt nearly forced her too, but he knew very well and Ryder probably knew too that she could have easily just went to her room and her aunt would have assumed she had gone to Danny's. He had to try to get his mind of the murder aspect and so he decided to focus on her being a big fan. To no avail, his mind traveled back to that word. _Murder_. Then another word joined it. _Anorexia_. This girl had it bad, not even bad, catastrophic.

When he heard girls came with baggage he just assumed PMS and a couple bad boyfriends would be the worst he would see, but Ryder's baggage would fill then entire cargo of a turbo-jet. A deep breath left his mouth. He had to get his mind off her. Although it had been impossible to stop thinking about her the previous days, now it was more important. Or was it? Maybe he needed to take action now. In two days he would be eating dinner with Ms. Grafton and Ryder. He needed to figure out a plan. He grabbed his guitar and played the familiar melody. Laying his head back on his pillow, he continued to strum. Humming along the lyrics still weren't coming to him. Normally he could at least come up with a line that he would eventually work off of, but nothing came to him. Keeping his guitar positioned on his stomach, the chords became lighter and lighter until they were non-existent. His mind ran a marathon as he drifted to sleep.

His worried mother scurried in with a large tray of soup. "Dan, dear, wake up. Are you feeling alright?" Startled by his mother's presence, he didn't answer and just groaned. Immediately she placed her cool hand on his forehead. "Oh my goodness. You're burning up. She removed his guitar from his lap and replaced it with the tray of food.

"Now eat up!" She nearly spoon fed him, until he gave her 'stop-this-right-now-I'm-a-grown-man' look. Putting her hands up in a surrender pose she said, "I'll be back in a little bit to check on you."

Grabbing the remote his nightstand, he decided to watch some TV, but his eyes couldn't focus on the black box. They kept drifting to his window and the room directly across from him. He wondered what she was thinking and how she was doing. He had the urge to embrace her in a hug and never let her go. He wanted to kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be okay and that he was there for her. Soon he realized he wouldn't always be there. He was leaving in a little bit under a month. Being home already felt like two eternities, he could imagine how being away from her was going to feel like. He barely finished his soup; eating was the last thing on his mind. It may have been early, but he just wasn't to sleep. Sleep until Wednesday; sleep until he could figure out how to help her. He wanted to keep her secret to himself and let her tell him on her own time. Beginning to think he was wrong by listening to that letter, but maybe he was supposed to hear it. They read fan letters all the time; it was very possible that eventually Danny could have chosen that letter to read instead of Tom.

The chances of him actually knowing her were slim-to-none, and to be honest he wasn't sure if McFly would have helped, but now he wanted to do more than help; he wanted to make everything great again. He knew he wasn't capable of that, but every guy can dream can't he. To think that just last week he was dreaming of another platinum record and now he was dreaming of helping a girl he had just met. What had gotten into the head of Danny Jones; since when did he care so much about things that weren't about him or music?

Now it was time it figure out how he could help without letting her know he knows all of her secrets. He wanted her to trust him more that ever now, so she could tell him, so he could be the shoulder she cried on. The thoughts sent him into tears once again. Knowing his mother would walk in at any moment, he would have to act sicker than he felt. The only reason he was sick was from worrying so much. As if on cue, his mother entered into his room.

"Oh dear, you really don't feel well. Let me just tuck you into bed and you just keep resting. Okay?"

"Okay mum."

He climbed under the covers and his mother pulled them tight around him. He rested his hands on top of the blankets, cocked his head to the side against his pillow, and closed his eyes. A horrible nightmare filled his head. First his vision became clouded and next he was hearing gunshots, repeated gunshots. He was running and running with no head, the gunshots following no matter which way he turned. His path was abruptly stopped. Hitting a solid surface, his back hit the cold hard floor below his feet. A beautiful girl stood before him with a fierce look in her eye. She was adorned in a black leotard and pink tutu. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun and she was spinning. Dancing about, he laid on the floor where he had been knocked and watched her. She was beautiful, it took him many minutes for him to connect the beautiful girl with Ryder. As soon as the name clicked in his head her face became clearer. Tears were pouring out of her eyes. Trying to make his wake-up, his body began to convulse. Then he heard a soft voice.

"Danny, wake up! Are you okay?"

He awoke in a cold sweat, his body shaking. As his vision cleared he saw the beautiful girl herself. She was positioned angelically on the edge of his bed, both hands placed on either one of his shoulders. The shaking from the dream had been Ryder shaking him awake. When he didn't answer her question she rephrased her words.

"I came by to apologize for last night. Your mom let me up and told me it was okay to wake you up, but be careful because you were not feeling well," She began to babble. "You were in some crazy dream, probably a nightmare and you were just shaking and sweating, I didn't know what to do."

"I'm fine," he managed to say. Now was a true test. Could he keep everything to himself?

_Once again the time as come, it's the end of the chapter. Guess what? You got to review. YEAH YOU!!! If you didn't like it…tell me why…if you did…please let me know. There's a lot left of the story…so as a reader it's your decision if you want it or not. hehe_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I don't own McFly, or the lyrics those belong to True Vibe._

_Thanks for the reviews, they really do mean a lot to me. I can't thank you enough._

He didn't let her add more to her apology. "You don't need to be sorry Ryder. I'm the one that should be sorry."

"Why?" she arched her eyebrow and seemed quite surprised. He almost blew his cover. He was about to apologize for everything he had just found out. Luckily he caught himself and came up with a quick excuse.

"It was a long day, and I should have just let you rest." That was the lamest excuse ever. He mentally beat him self up over the comment. Trying to just smirk and play it off like that was what he intended to say, he propped himself up on his elbows. His stomach filled with butterflies and he decided to change the topic.

"Yeah, so…" His attempt was not very successful.

"Yeah," she bit her lower lip and kept her eyes focused on the comforter she was sitting on. "Well I guess I should let you rest, if you feel better tomorrow and you want to hang or something just come on over." Her eyes drifted to his and quickly looked away towards the opposite wall. She got a peculiar look on her face, stood up and made her way to the window. Looking back at Danny in his bed, she asked, "Is that my room?"

This lying thing was becoming a regular routine around Ryder, "I don't know. I don't spend enough time in here."

"Hmm. You better be careful, I could take pictures of you and sell them for millions of pounds or whatever currency you use here," she joked, but raised her eyebrow to emphasize the statement. The yard between couldn't be more than a few feet and the windows were so close, almost everything could be seen. A scared uneasy look crossed over Danny's face. She lightly punched his arm, "I'm just kidding bud."

Bud was a "friend" word that Danny hated. He didn't want to be her friend, but he had to start somewhere. With a simple good-bye she left. As soon as he heard the front door slam, he slammed his head back on his pillow, pulled the covers over his head and groaned. He kicked his feet repeatedly, similar to a temper tantrum of a ten year old. Continuing to groan his mom bombarded into his room.

"Danny what is all the commotion about?"

Lying again, "My stomach is upset."

"Well kicking and screaming isn't going to help. Get some sleep."

He nodded and gave up the tantrum. Soon he faded into an uneasy sleep. He had the same dream as before. The dancing just took longer. Her graceful moves entertained him until morning, they made the fear the gunshots had caused to fade away. The longer she danced the more he felt at ease. Her styles changed, one moment she would be a beautiful ballerina and the next she would be a rhythmic tap dancer.

Wednesday arrived and Danny was wide awake. He hadn't gotten that much sleep since before McFly. He was feeling much better than yesterday, but he needed to come to a conclusion of how he was going to keep her secret to himself. Wanting to just embrace her friendship and not act weird around her was going to be a task. Taking a deep breath, he got himself out of bed and ready for the day. Throwing on a blue track jacket, he looked over his shoulder. The window he had watched her dance through was occupied with a familiar face. When his eyes met hers, butterflies invaded his stomach. Swallowing hard, he forced a smile. Ryder excitedly waved and went to open her window. He followed her lead.

"How are you feeling today?" she spoke as soon as his window was wide open.

"Much better. How are you?" he returned.

"I'm good. What are you up to today?"

He thought he might try to be a little flirty, so he commented, "I was thinking I was going to hang out with you."

She attempted to hide her smile that was quickly spreading across her face. "That sounds great. Do you want to just come over then?"

"Sure. I'm a little hungry, so I'll eat before I come over."

She quickly responded, running her words together slightly and shouting a little more than necessary, "I'll make you breakfast."

He laughed a little at her eagerness. "Sounds good, be over in a minute. I can't pass-up free food." He tried to not rush to her doorstep, but he couldn't wait to see her again. Unfortunately he hadn't pondered about how he was going to stay cool. Maybe it was good that her past was the last thing on his mind. Danny fought the urgency to sprint to her doorstep, so it ended up being an awkward speed walk to her front door. The wooden door flung open before he even had a chance to knock. Her smiled greeted him as she wrapped him in an awkward hug.

"Come in," she welcomed. Walking into the room, it didn't feel the same as the thousands of times he had been in there before. His hands found his pockets and he rocked back and forth on his heels, "So," he said elongating the 'o'.

As if reading his mind she told him, "My aunt is out running errands today."

He nodded, not sure of what to respond. Shrugging she turned slightly and started to walk up the stairs towards her room. He didn't object and followed her through the familiar corridors. Walking behind her, he couldn't help but notice her curves. He starred at her back studying every line of her body. Moments later she had turned into her room. He stood in the doorway not sure where to go.

"Make your self at home."

He felt stiff and uncomfortable, so he tried to loosen the mood. A smile broke on his face. She looked at him curiously, only seconds passed before he stepped back and started running, running towards her bed. Leaping right before he ran into the bed, he belly flopped on the soft mattress. Ryder laughed at Danny's spontaneous movement. He flipped on his stomach and scooted to one edge of the double bed. He patted his hand next to the vacancy. She smiled and sat on the corner of the bed, farthest away from Danny.

"You scared of me or something?" he asked. She turned over her shoulder, curls flipping gracefully and framing her face as they landed. Scrunching her nose, she shook her head 'no' giving her auburn curls flight again. He had the urge to run his hands through the long tendrils. He started to sit up to join her at the end of the bed, but before he could make it all the way up, the phone began to ring.

"I'll be right back, make yourself at home."

"Already have." She chuckled a little before disappearing through the door. He finished sitting up and looked around her room. The walls were pretty plain, no posters or pictures were on the walls, but a simple light blue color that had been there for years. Standing up, he made his way towards her desk. A picture was framed and placed in the far right corner. The glass was puff painted; 'best friends' was written across it in green glitter. Two girls were in the picture, one was easily recognizable as Ryder. The other girl was dressed the same as her, with a tight black leotard, hair slicked back in a tight bun. Danny figured it was one of the girls Ryder had danced with. The letter popped back into his head. _Best Friend_. That must be the girl that wrote the letter. Smiling at the picture he moved his focus. In the middle of the old wooden desk sat a book. The cover was simple and had "Ryder" inscribed in gold lettering on the black leather. He hesitated before placing his hand over the journal.

He licked his lips and took a deep breath. Listening for any hint that Ryder was getting off the phone, he heard her jabbering away with whoever was on the other end. He opened the book slowly. The first page was simple; it had a quote written in the middle. _I wish that I could Know the places I have yet to go, the ways I'll change, the things I'll do, the special dreams I'll make come true. I wish that I could see the life that lies ahead of me._ He turned the page. A picture was pasted on the next page, a family portrait. On the opposite page one sentence was written: _I miss them_. He continued through the book, paying close attention to Ryder's voice. He came across a page still in the beginning of the journal with a picture of him pasted in it. It was one that was all over the internet, she must have printed it off. On the page next to it another sentence was written. _Remember, I'll Be Ok_. The page had spots of coarse wrinkled paper from what seamed like dried water, dried tears.

The pages were filled with more quotes and pictures. He noticed that the quotes became more original. The quotes seemed to be personal ones from Ryder's mind. Quotes soon turned in to poems and what-seemed to be lyrics. There were even a couple of personal days written out. Towards the end, he found the day they spent together. It started with: _I couldn't believe I spent a whole day with Danny Jones. No one at the dance academy would believe me._ He smiled from ear-to-ear. His eyes scanned over the rest of the story. One part stood out the most to him. _I haven't spent much time with him yet, but he's everything I thought he would be. I feel like I want to tell him everything, and cry on his shoulder. I don't know what makes me feel this way, maybe because he's one of my biggest musical inspirations or maybe its just 'cause he seems to actually care. I have to be careful though, I can't be hurt anymore. I just can't._

Danny felt so warm inside, the butterflies returned, stronger than ever. Flipping the page he found lyrics and another picture of him. Assuming they would be McFly lyrics, he glanced over them. He didn't find recognizable lyrics, instead they seemed to be a Ryder original.

**When the night seems to dark  
And the distance too far  
It's good to know  
I can count on you**

Sometimes it seems  
That it's all too much to handle  
Sometimes it feels  
Like it's just too hard alone  
It's a great big world out there  
And it isn't always fair  
It can leave you lost and scared  
If you're on your own  
Away from home

When the night seems too dark  
And the distance too far  
It's good to know  
I can count on you  
When I'm caught in between  
Not sure of my dreams  
It's good to know  
I can count on you

I can count on you  
To be a friend when I'm in need  
I can count on you  
To stay beside me all the way  
I didn't know if you'd even want to answer  
I didn't know if you'd turn and walk away  
You understood that I needed you right by my side  
And you didn't ask me why you just came  
And never complained

When the night seems too dark  
And the distance too far  
It's good to know  
I can count on you  
When I'm caught in between  
Not sure of my dreams  
It's good to know  
I can count on you

When we put our differences aside  
There's nothing we can't do  
When we see e ye to eye

When the night seems too dark  
And the distance too far  
It's good to know  
I can count on you  
When I'm caught in between  
Not sure of my dreams  
It's good to know  
That you'll get me through hard times  
When nothing seems right  
With you by my side  
It's good to know  
I can count on you  
I can count on you to stay  
I can count on you

He assumed they were about him, but that wasn't all that came to his head. His thoughts were interrupted, "What are you doing?" A harsh voice sounded from the doorway. Ryder stood there, fuming. Danny slammed the book shut and they just starred. Neither one said a word.

_Alright so that's the 7th chapter…obviously I waited a little bit longer than the other chapters, I wasn't feeling like you guys are enjoying it anymore. That's the reason I write, so people enjoy it. So, if you like this chapter please let me know, you guys make the updates happen. Thank you for those who did review, you rock!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I don't own McFly_

_I love you guys!! Everyone who has reviewed…wow, just thank you so much!!_

"Don't be mad, please," Danny begged after what seemed like hours of silence. Her eyes glared into his, not blinking. She pursed her lips and then slammed them together to make a straight line. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Ryder managed to say, "I guess you know then." Her voice was hoarse and uneasy. He wasn't sure what he would have found out. A family portrait had been in the journal, but it didn't have details, just a simple, I miss them. That could have easily meant she missed being way from them, not that they were brutally murdered. His eyes dodged back and forth. "Know what?" he asked, his voice cracking in the process.

She walked over to the bed, and slumped on the end facing the desk. Her eyes connected with his once more. "That I don't just know about McFly; that I was a fan, and well," she paused and swallowed hard, "I was a fan of you." Danny didn't say anything. He hadn't even come to that conclusion, well he knew she was a fan of McFly from the letter, but it never crossed his mind that he was her favorite. It wasn't a brilliant moment for him, but it all came together, the pictures of him, the references to McFly in many of her quotes. Since he didn't say anything she started babbling, "I just wanted to prove that I didn't like you just because you were famous. I didn't want you to think I was some crazy fan who only liked you for your money. I'm not like that, it's just that I've been through a lot and McFly's music always made me feel better. It was all about your music for me, and then I finally saw a picture of you guys, and your blue eyes just kind of made me fall for you. In that celebrity crush sort of way, and then I got to know you and I kind of fell for you, for real and that's why those pictures of you are in there…"

He smiled at her drawn out explanation. His eyes danced, trying to reach hers. When she wouldn't shut up and make eye-contact with him, he stood up from the wooden desk chair. Slowly moving towards her, she finally looked up to see what he was doing. By the time their eyes reached each other they were centimeters apart. His hot breath could be felt on her cheeks, and they were during crimson in the process. Her voice had completely disappeared; she had no more words to continue. Sensing her face tense up, he moved even closer. His hands found away to her cheeks and held her head so she was directly lined up with his eyes. He wanted to kiss her, but he felt like it was too son. "You're not just a fan to me." She could almost feel his lips moving as he spoke the words, she would never forget.

Ryder's eyes glossed over. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Immediately, Danny brought his thumb to the tear and rubbed it away. She choked out a whisper. "Thanks." He hugged her, bringing her to her feet. Trying to avoid any awkwardness, during the hug Danny said, "How about that breakfast I was promised." His stomach grumbled in agreement. A light laugh came out of her lips as she let go from the hug.

"Coming right up." She left him alone again and went to the kitchen. Although he was tempted to go back to the journal, he thought it would be better if he offered a helping hand. Taking one last glance of the leather-bound book before he left the room, he walked downstairs to find Ryder rummaging through lots of cupboards. She was so cute as she rushed from one end of the kitchen to the other. He leaned against the wall and just watched her for a few moments. There were certain things he noticed about her; when she was in question about something, she would scrunch up her nose. When she was concentrating she would bite her bottom lip. The most dominate trait about her was the way she moved. As she would reach into the cupboard, she would roll onto her toe, standing on the very tip and reach out her opposite leg. She would turn or twirl to get to a destination. Her hands would be gracefully placed at her hip, if they were not in use and when she stood still, her feet would be placed with heels together and toes pointing outward. She was truly a dancer and Danny thought she was truly beautiful.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him, just standing there, watching her. Immediately her mind drifted, he was probably thinking about how stupid she must look. She silently pouted while her face was turned away from him. What if he just had said that she wasn't just a fan to make her shut up? She had to admit that she did babble a lot. Her hair flew over her shoulder; she tried not to be nervous as she looked at him. Now that he knew about her being a fan, she didn't want his opinion of her to change. She tried to be cool and said, "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help."

He smiled coyly and pushed off the wall with his foot to join her. "What can I do?" he offered.

"Do you know how to make pancakes?"

"No. Do you?" he jested, assuming the reason she offered to make him breakfast was because she knew how.

Bashfully, she looked down and shook her head, "No."

They both started cracking up. Eventually she started rummaging through the cupboards again and was able to find a instant cake mix. Ryder held the red package next to her face, "How does cake sound?"

Simply shrugging, he replied, "Works for me."

They didn't realize how messy instant cake mix could get. By the time they finally got it into the pan to bake, they were covered with the white flour-y textured powder. Sure, most of it got there by throwing it at one another, but none the less, only half the cake was in the oven. Even though it was simple, they knew they must have screwed it up some how.

"I'm starving," Danny told her as he jumped on the counter to sit.

"Well, we have like twenty minutes to entertain ourselves before the masterpiece is done."

"I know this is probably bad to bring up, but…" he gave her a cautious face, not sure if he should continue.

She gave him the go-ahead, "Just say it Danny."

"Well, when I was looking at the forbidden journal, I noticed some lyrics."

"Yeah?" Ryder was slightly defensive.

"I was wondering if you'd sing them for me."

"No." It was direct and intense.

He nudged the topic a little more, "It would help waste time." He almost sang the words, giving her his famous smile that made million of girls swoon. Her eyes narrowed and she lightly pushed him off balance. Groaning, she said, "Fine, I'll be right back."

He clapped in victory. She laughed at him and sprinted up the stairs to get the journal. She couldn't say to no to him and that scared her. She had been so strong and focused before he came into her life, now she was crumbling to pieces. After losing so many people she loved, having a new person in her life that would soon disappear did not sound appealing. No matter how much she looked at the negatives of keeping Danny close, she knew one of his smiles would wipe every thought away.

No one had ever even turned a page of her journal, and in less than a week, she was willingly showing it to him. Of course, he had looked at it first without her permission, but for some reason she didn't care if he saw it. It's not like it spilled details about her parents, that she wasn't ready for him to know. The last thing she wanted was pity. She wasn't even sure if she could speak about it. Just the moment of thinking about it brought tears to her eyes. She wished she could pick up her baby brother and swing him around like she used to. He didn't deserve any of that; she was so angry with her father. It was his fault she was alone. She had come to terms with the fact that she was an orphan.

Her cheeks were damp, so she quickly ran to the bathroom to get cleaned up before she went back downstairs. Blotchy, red puffs surrounded her eyes. She quickly patted on some foundation and tried to cover them up the best she could. Realizing she was taking an awfully long time, she ran across the hall, grabbed her journal and scampered down stairs. The book was grasped so tightly in her hands that her knuckles were turning white. Avoiding eye contact, when she reached Danny, she held the book out. He grabbed for Ryder's journal, but she couldn't let go. Both their hands locked on it. Surprisingly he didn't tug; he waited until she was ready. Her teeth were suspended on her lip, biting harder as she tossed the idea back and forth in her head of actually letting him see it. When her eyes finally met his, the swollenness had reduced. The connection of their eyes made her immediately dropped the book. He wasn't fully prepared for her release of it. Slightly fumbling, he held it tightly after he gained control.

"Are you sure you want me to look at it again? It's okay if you aren't comfortable." He asked with concern.

Without hesitation she said, "Yes." She took a deep breath as he rummaged through the pages to find her lyrics once again. Her eyes were locked on the pages flying by. She swallowed hard as he landed on his destination. Danny read over the lyrics once more. His eyes scanned over every word, and he tapped along with his foot. Shoving the book at her he asked, "How does it go?

"Excuse me?"

"Like what is the melody?"

Her eyes got huge, "You want me…" she took a deep breath, "to sing…" another long pause followed, "in front of you." She finally finished her sentence. Her stomached filled with gigantic butterflies, and her heart felt like it was in her throat. Her body pulsed with the rhythm of her heart, which had sped up thirty times faster than it should be. She tried to swallow to call her fears, but the nerves got more intense.

Danny spoke to her as if it was a no-brainer, "How else am I supposed to know the song?"

Ryder's eyes couldn't even look at Danny, they dodged back and forth. After taking a deep breath, she managed to tell him, "I'm sorry, but I can't sing."

"Did you have a melody in mind at all for these?"

It was impossible for her to lie around him. As her eyes focused on the ground, she admitted there was a certain rhythm and melody that belonged to the words on the page.

"Its okay, Ryder." She loved it how he said her name. Bringing her eyes up to his, she listened to the rest of his statement. To make things easier for her, he jokingly boasted, "You don't have to be as good as me, I just want to get an idea of what it sounds like in my head."

"Fine." She finally agreed. Seriously hating she couldn't say no to him, she began to sing. "When the night seems to dark, and the distance too far, it's good to know, I can count on you."

He didn't let her finish. "It's perfect," he interrupted and ran out of the house. She stood there alone, in the middle of the kitchen, astounded. Where had he gone? She was so confused.

_Alright another chapter down. Now you know what to do after you are done reading it. Now that story is really beginning, it's going to take a little longer to get up chapters, but to get them up quick, what do you have to do???? I know you know the answer to that question. I'll give you a clue. It has to do with a button that you can press on this page. It happens to be in the low left hand corner. It happens to have the word REVIEW involved. Hehe. Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think, you have no idea how much it means to me!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I don't own McFly or the song_

_I'm so sorry this has taken so long, thank you for putting up with me. Second semester of college has been very stressful, I didn't realize there would be nearly no time to write by simply taking three extra credits._

The timer on the oven began to ring. No Danny was insight. Ryder pulled the cake out of the oven and set it on top. Finding a seat at the dining table, she tapped her fingers waiting for him or the cake to cool, she wasn't sure which one. Her stomach was slightly out ruling Danny. Grumbling filled the room as she eyed the cake. It taunted her, so finally she lifted her self out of her seat and searched for frosting. She found two containers, one chocolate, one vanilla. Just as she was about to make her decision, Danny burst through the door.

"Chocolate or Vanilla?" she asked holding the two canisters out towards him.

He didn't think he would be bombarded with such a hard question right away. His eyes darted between the two frostings and then to the yellow cake on the counter. Biting his lip, he was extremely frustrated. "Um," he began, "Vanilla?" His voice was so unsure that it made her laugh.

"Chocolate it is." Ryder popped the vanilla frosting back into the cupboard. She lightly frosted the cake, noticing Danny over her shoulder.

"Can I help?" he asked when their eyes connected.

Rolling her eyes, she answered, "I suppose." She pulled out an extra knife, so he could help spread. He dug the utensil into the frosting and took out a heap of creamy chocolate. As he started to lay it across the spongy cake, a wide smile came onto his face. Lifting the sliver knife off the cake he called her name. She turned to him, giving him a skeptical face as if to ask what he wanted without saying a word. Frosting from his knife connected with her nose. Her mouth immediately sprung into a surprised 'o'. She then took her share of the frosting and smeared it on his cheek.

"Are you challenging me?" he asked in a seductive voice only millimeters from her face.

"I fought back didn't I?" she raised her eyebrow in response. They lingered for awhile, eyes locked. Suddenly a panicked expression washed over her face, and she turned her head and continued to frost the cake. Danny froze and a million thoughts ran through his mind. Was it too soon? Less than a week? He thought of every girl he had been with and most girls he had slept with he had known less than four hours. Why was this a big deal? It was true that most people he slept with he didn't have any feeling for, and Ryder was a girl he was falling fast for. He let all his inhibitions go.

"Ryder?" he tried to say it normally as possible, but it came out slightly louder than a whisper. She glanced over her shoulder and before she could answer him, his lips connected with hers. It took her awhile to actually realize what was happening and arched her back in slight resistant. Soon she embraced what was happening and did the same to him. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, knife still in hand. His knife clattered on the floor and hugged her waist, pulling him into her. The clanking knife was joined by hers after a few minutes. He lifted her waist, and sat her on the counter. They were finally the same height. Ryder pulled back, her forehead still glued to his.

Both parties were breathing heavily; they were so in the moment they had for gotten to breath. The frosting on her nose had been smeared to her cheek and he had frosting all over his face. With foreheads their eyes locked again. They couldn't help but laugh at the sight of one another. Her eyes soon faded down, almost ashamed of giggling.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked bringing his hands up onto her frosting coated cheeks. Her eyes raised to meet his once again and with all sincerity, her eye brows lowered, even furrowed a bit, and she said, "Nothing."

Her words did not match her facial expression. He gave her an odd look. Ryder sighed, but didn't lose the connection with his eyes. "I can't fall for you." She said is simply, but with a broken heart attached. Without asking, he awaited more of an explanation. She obliged his wishes, knowing what he wanted.

"You're great," she started, "but you're Danny Jones. Millions of girls are pining for your attention. There have been tons that have gotten your attention. You're a superstar with badass qualities. I'm a girl from America who has too much baggage for you to handle. I can't handle someone leaving again, and when it comes down to it, you're gonna leave."

Danny was stunned. Her words were precise and articulate as if they had been rehearsed. They day was bound to happen, the day their feelings would come out in the open. Today was that day. Instead of fighting for her immediate affection he stared her down and asked, "Do you trust me?"

Ryder's voice was hesitant. A chocolate stained hand, slipped over her hand that was gripping the edge of the counter. "I don't know how to trust." Things began to spill out. "I thought I trusted my parents, most children do, but my dad…" she stopped. Rubbing his thumb back and forth over her smooth hand was comfort enough for her to continue. "He got in trouble with bad people; he used my money, MY MONEY," she started raising her voice at this point, "TO BET ON STUPID GAMES." Her voice lowered and tears welled, "stupid, stupid, stupid," she muttered it over and over. "I worked so hard for that money, teaching dance and working at Macy's. I wanted to dance, that's all. But now I'm some charity case that had to be forced on my aunt, because my father went and got our family killed because he couldn't pay back all the bets he lost."

She sobbed, "I have nothing. I've lost it all." Danny just listened knowing that she wasn't done. "I don't even know who I am anymore. I've lost me." Her forehead fell on his shoulder.

Not knowing if saying something would make things better, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders allowing for her to shake into him. He contemplated what he was going to say in his head a few times before he held her shoulders and pulled her away from him.

"You've gained me." He hadn't expected for her to tell him her life story like this, then again he didn't expect to fall for some girl he just met. He's supposed to be the unattainable rock star. He was supposed to be some play boy and now he's attached to some girl he had met less than a week ago. Danny was beginning to scare himself as he looked into her grey eyes all he saw was confusion, a cloudy mist that he wanted to clear.

After she collected herself, her body was over taken by embarrassment. She couldn't bring herself to look him directly into his dark blue eyes. She didn't want to admit she saw honesty in his eyes, the promiscuous superstar had a little bit of innocence when he spoke. Not knowing what to say, she pushed herself off the counter and away from Danny. He was astounded by her movement.

Many ideas floated through his head. _Why did she move away? Was it too soon to kiss her? What should I do now? _He did the only thing he could think of, "So how bout that song?" It was like everything that had just happened had disappeared. The kiss had never happened. Telling her life story had never happened. He had never left to get his guitar. It was as if the cake had just come out of the oven. Some unexplained chocolate mess was there, but other than that, there were no signs of what had just occurred. They soon were laughing and joking just like before.

"I'm too hungry to sing." Ryder eyed the cake.

"Fair enough," Danny agreed grabbing the cake and bringing to the table. Ryder grabbed to colas out of the fridge and placed them next to the two chairs. He cut the cake, and they immediately dug in. Plates were not needed; the cake was instantly devoured. Lots of napkins were needed to clean up. First their faces were wiped clean from their earlier fight, and then the rest of the kitchen was hosed down. Tension was still present in the kitchen. The counter where she had sat previously still lingered with their kiss. They caught each other staring at the spot as they cleaned. For him, that spot was a landmark. He had never felt such passion before.

While for her it was a dream come true, but something that she felt couldn't happen again. He would be going back on the tour soon and leave her behind. It may not be permanently like everyone else in her family, but she couldn't handle it if he left. She had tried so hard to suppress her feelings, but he got to her. Danny Jones had gotten under her skin and he wasn't leaving anytime soon. He could leave forever and he would still be there lurking in her mind. Any girl on the planet wanted to be her only moments ago, actually they wanted to be her right now, being that close to him, and before everything she wanted to be in her current position. In the back of her mind she knew that she still wanted to be there, she wanted to be with him and for him to know her. Now, she couldn't let him in as quickly as she had let people in before. Before she would have been satisfied with being the one night girl, just a chance to be with Danny would have meant the whole world to her and now he's basically begging her and she was pushing him away. Maybe she thought he would get hurt, everyone around her had been hurt by her, and she didn't want that to happen to him.

Or maybe she was just punishing herself for something her dad did. It was her dad's fault that all of this had happened, but some how she had blamed herself. If she had known that he was in trouble she could have helped him out. She could have worked harder to help pay of his debts, could have helped him stop the nonsense. She could have not gone all the way out to LA. She could have died with them and put her out of her misery. In the end, she felt guilty for being alive when everyone she loved was dead. She had just come to terms with it. It was clear to her now on why she'd be shutting Danny out. In the back of her mind, she still thought the person who killed her father was after her. Someone needed to pay for his debt, and killing him didn't get them their money.

Her thoughts were cut off by Danny's melodic strumming on his mahogany acoustic guitar. He played the chord progression that he had earlier thought of, but hadn't been able to find words too. She let the chords play in her head and unconsciously started singing her lyrics over the tune.

_When the night seems to dark_

_And the distance to far_

_It's good to know_

_I can count on you_

_Sometimes it seems_

_That it's all too much to handle_

_Sometimes it feels_

_Like it's just too hard alone_

_It's a great big world out there_

_And it isn't always fair_

_It can leave you lost and scared_

_If you're on your own _

_Away from home_

_When the night seems to dark _

_And the distance to far _

_It's good to know_

_I can count on you_

_When I'm caught in between_

_Not sure of my dreams _

_It's good to know_

_I can count on you_

_I can count on you_

_To be a friend when I'm in need_

_I can count on you_

_To stay beside me all the way_

_I didn't know if you'd even want to answer_

_I didn't know if you'd turn and walk away_

_You understood that I needed you right by my side_

_And you didn't ask me why you just came_

_And never complained_

_When the night seems to dark _

_And the distance to far_

_It's good to know_

_I can count on you_

_When I'm caught in between_

_Not sure of my dreams_

_It's good to know_

_I can count on you_

_When we put our differences aside_

_There's nothing we can't do _

_When we see eye to eye_

_When the night seems to dark_

_And the distance to far_

_It's good to know _

_I can count on you_

_When I'm caught in between_

_Not sure of my dreams_

_It's good to know_

_That you'll get me through hard times_

_When nothing seems right_

_With you by my side_

_It's good to know_

_I can count on you_

_I can count on you to stay_

_I can count on you. _

She was out of breath and he was stunned. Then the tears started leaking from her eyes. He was at a loss for what to do, until the letters words echoed in his head.

"When you're down and lost…" he began the chorus to I'll Be Ok. A smile appeared on her face. He stopped singing and said, "Kara said the song helped."

"What?" she looked at him, catching him in his slip up.

_Alright I know that it took me forever, at first I just wanted to show that your reviews really would effect my posting and then I just got so bogged down with school work. But I'm beginning to have more time now. Your reviews are needed in order for another update, there will really have to be a lot for me to continue quickly because of all the work I'm doing. But I would love to have another chapter for you, but it's up to you the reviewers. Thank you for all of you that have stuck with me I greatly appreciate it!_


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